Australia extends 'world's best job' to four more

Australian tourism officials on Thursday said they were seeking four "mates" to help out with what has been billed as the Best Job in the World in a bid to reinvigorate the publicity campaign.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh said one winner picked in a lucky draw next month would be able to invite three friends to spend the rest of the year exploring the idyllic Whitsunday Islands.

"These four mates will have the holiday of a lifetime," she said. "They won't get a salary, but gee they'll have a lot of fun."

Britain's Ben Southall won a worldwide contest in May to land the six-month job as caretaker of Hamilton Island, snorkelling and sailing round the Great Barrier Reef islands and blogging about his experiences.

Tourism Queensland say the campaign has been a great success, although only a handful of comments have appeared on www.islandreefjob.com alongside Southall's blogs so far this month.

In his latest video message Southall said exploring hundreds of islands in six months was "an impossible task for one person to achieve."

Tourism Queensland chief executive Anthony Hayes said the northeast coastal region had seen a 15 to 20 percent rise in bookings after the Best Job in the World campaign.